Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers Secretary-General Akelo Misori. He wants 30,000 teachers hired ahead of the implementation of free secondary education in January, 2018. [Daily Nation]
The Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) has written to the Ministry of education demanding a recruitment of more than 30,000 teachers.
This is ahead of the implementation of free day secondary education starting January next year promised by the Jubilee government. This will, however, depend on the outcome of October 26 repeat presidential poll. NASA had promised free secondary education starting this September if they had won August 8 polls.In a letter to Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i, dated September 27, Kuppet says the transition will increase the current shortage of teachers from the current 90,000 to 120,000.The government recruits about 5,000 teachers annually and a total of 312,000 are currently employed by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).“For this transition to be successful, the government must recruit additional teachers at the secondary school level in the short run. It, therefore, calls for additional funding of Sh30 billion in the education sector to cater for the recurrent expenditure that goes directly to the hiring of teachers,” said Kuppet secretary-general Akelo Misori as quoted by the Nation.Misori said that the union expects the ministry to fast-track the allocation of more funds to necessitate the recruitment of additional teachers.The government last week allocated Sh25 billion for the free day secondary education programme which will cater for infrastructure development to ensure 100 percent transition from primary to secondary school.In 2018, the Form One intake will accommodate 1,003,522 learners sitting their Kenya Certificate of Primary Education examination this year.